The Bloody Child

Backwards-in-time, shots of people just standing or sitting there, a man's face shoved into a dead woman's bloody body, naked women in the woods covered in dirt. It's gotta be an arty movie. And EVERYONE who is ANYONE loves it, according to some things I've read on the Internet. I watched this in my film class and decided I'd rather listen to my iPod and focus on my Audio Book, HEART OF DARKNESS. My professor (and others, apparently) BREATHLESSLY describe it as the greatest "war film" ever. And the most brutal. Uh-huh...Have they even SEEN any war films in the last, say, 30-60 years? And SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and FULL METAL JACKET are some of the MOST brutal I've ever seen.

As a filmmaker, I appreciate filmmaking, and have been known to praise good indie films and bad Hollywood films, and vice-versa. But this movie takes the cake in over-indulgent, self-pleasing, egotistical filmmaking, because the only people who would like it are the filmmakers. It is also one of those "important films" that only people who want to feel important and is a film elitist would like.

I give it an F for quality and effort. But, I appreciate anyone who can actually RAISE the money and go make it. (Or just spend their own money, which is both brave and stupid--I've learned this one the hard way.)

The only way to make sense of this movie is to read its reviews, note the simple plot, take careful note of the word "nonlinear," and try to guess how the film could possibly be understood by anyone who does not already have this information. The supposedly symbolic fragments spliced haphazardly throughout the backwards-in-time plot fragments are indecipherable -- as is the sound track. Put this on your "must miss" list!

Let me get straight to the point: THIS IS A VERY HORRIBLE MOVIE! I have seen some of the worst movies I thought I'd ever seen, but it can't get ANY worse than this! (You KNOW it's a bad movie when, even six or seven hours after seeing it, you're constantly thinking to yourself, "WHAT KIND OF STUPID MOVIE WAS THAT?!"

Unfortunately, I was unable to discern it. Judging from other viewers ratings, I was not alone in this view. Surprising that some external reviews seemed to like it. I think that one used the word "dull". A plot free movie has an extra burden to achieve acceptance. I saw it on DirectTV.

What drew me to watch this film is its LA Times top 10 films of the year and a thumbs up from Gus Van Sant. An absolutely brilliant independent film about the depth, the intimate look, at the internal workings and experiences of women. Each scene is as if a poem, beautifully designed with color, content, depth and composition. Each word has meaning, as again like a poem, giving reason for its making.

What an amazing accomplishment - I understand by the end credits the huge amount of educational grants to make this a possibility. It is refreshing to view and experience a womens point of view without curtailing reality. This is not a film made for entertainment - it is visual art, moving and exposing, changing and growing - it is something to learn from, to reach inside and react to.